SACCONE & SPEED 175th ANNIVERSARY

2014 has seen the 175th anniversary of Saccone & Speed, probably Gibraltar’s oldest surviving and most successful business and one of Charles Gomez & Co’s longest standing clients.

A reception at the Rock Hotel just before the summer congregated hundreds of trading partners and associates of this Gibraltarian trading house. Specialising in wines and spirits Saccone & Speed took full advantage of the opportunities provided by the British Empire and when the sun was at its imperial zenith this pioneering Gibraltarian company had branches and subsidiaries in the UK, Africa, India, Malta, Cyprus, Central and South America, the Far East, Canada and the United States.

The Gibraltarian capacity for reinvention and flexibility is clearly in the commercial soul of the Saccone & Speed group and despite the contraction of its overseas operations and British and allied military procurement, it remains one of Gibraltar’s principal employers. < /p>

At the reception a history of the Group “Wholesome Wines and Kindred Spirits – Saccone & Speed, 1829-2014” was launched. Written by retired Gibraltar Government Chief Secretary and now historian Richard Garcia, it has been said that the book is among the most detailed histories of Gibraltarian enterprise ever published. The author concludes his book with a chapter “Into the 21st Century” which shows that for the foreseeable future this beacon of Gibraltarian trading ingenuity will continue to shine bright.

Saccone & Speed’s financial assistance to bars and restaurants in Gibraltar by way of tied house agreements has nurtured many a new business and aided established ones in times when banking finance has been difficult to source.